Saturday, July 20, 2013

We went to a Jays game today (valiant effort but losing to Tampa Bay 4:3). It was a “junior Jays“ day so the girls had a chance to run the bases after the game. These game days are very economical. The children tickets were only $7 each and adults $14 in the 500 level.

I was 17 years old when I saw a game at this field (then known and for me always the SkyDome). It is a special place.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

My posting is channelling 1977 this week (shirred sundresses and Holly Hobbie!). My middle sister and I had these Holly Hobbie bags. This photo was taken in Australia at my grandparents home. My dad brought us home these original Knickerbocker bags from a business trip in Boston. We used them for our travels. The pocket says “carry a little love with you.” Holly Hobbie was wise.

When my sister and I cleaned out my dad’s crawl space, we found the bags. They were musty and damaged, but the patch pockets were still intact. I carefully removed the patch pocket and made the girls drawstring backpacks with the pockets. The fabric is pre-printed hexagon fabric that I found at the thrift shop. I am trying to get them to carry their own stuff when we go on our excursions (water bottle and snack, etc. ), instead of me carrying everything!

So now they can carry a little love! I recently came across a very informative post on doll kind which gives the history of Holly Hobbie dolls and their cultural significance. The author says that there are a few episodes on Little House on the Prairie where Carrie is playing with a Holly Hobbie doll. We are trying to find these episodes!

Before I sign off I thought I would share the backpack storm my sewing pal and I have been stitching in licensed and novelty fabrics. The collage below a sample of what we have been up to (Superman, Mister Man, Fancy Nancy, Littlest Pet Shop, Chuggington, Angelina Ballerina) for various birthday gifts. (We have used this tutorial and this tutorial and adapted them depending on the size of our scraps). Her family uses soccer packs for the soccer gear; baseball packs for the baseball gear, etc. Keeps everything organized. It’s also a nice idea to make a little pack for a special trip. My pal’s nieces are going to France, so she plans to make them little packs with Eiffel tower fabric.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Do you remember wearing these sort of sundresses ? Back in the day, I spent most of my summer in dresses like these (minus the Snoopy). I picked up this pre-shirred Snoopy fabric at Walmart in Ogdensburg, New York last summer for a couple of dollars. I finally made it into sundresses.

The whole project took less than an hour to finish, I am not sure why it took me nearly a year to get to it. Lily’s version is too short to wear as a dress, so it is more of a top with shorts. In true 80s fashion they picked out some pony beads to put on the ties.

We had a hot sunny weekend. Just what we needed to dry out the city. These photos are taken at Underpass Park in the Corktown neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. This is the first public park in Toronto under an overpass. There is also a basketball court and the ground can be used for skateboarding. The overpass provides plenty of shade. The girls played here for almost 2 hours, I think they found the structures challenging.

Proceeding south from the playground are several pathways winding through a naturalized marsh and eventually you will hit another playground and a splash pad to cool off.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

We really wanted to take the girls to Stratford (Ontario) this summer so I was thrilled when I won four tickets from the Little Paper to see the Three Musketeers. {Pre-kids I was a contest junkie and entered absolutely everything. Now I am extremely selective and I had a good feeling about winning this one.}
The play started at 2 and ran to almost 5 pm with only a 15 minute intermission. Both girls had no problems paying attention to the entire production … I was a bit concerned – while billed as a family production – the story has some dark elements and they only knew a very basic “more upbeat” story line - thanks to Barbie and others.
The town of Stratford has an Avon River (just like its namesake) and it is famous for the white and black swans. Prior to the show we had a little picnic next to the river. I caught these photos just before a sun shower. I am so glad I did. I believe that siblings share a special conversation – they finish each other’s sentences and think the same thoughts at the same time – I am starting to see that in them now (hmm…between bickering: ). I wanted to capture that, maybe I did in the second from the bottom.
Happy summer and make lots of memories,

Friday, July 5, 2013

My aunt and uncle have a large cherry tree so we were able to pick our own. Lily’s favourite part of the day was climbing the tree. Hope’s favourite part of the day was sampling the fresh fruit.

After giving some of our harvest to neighbours and the day camp, we still had tons left. Given that cherries spoil quickly, I decided to freeze the remainder. I needed to take the pits out first. { I used this pitter. It works very well.} Now we have tons of cherries for shakes, smoothies, and popsicles.

Over the summer, I am encouraging the girls to journal about their summer experiences, so I print out their favourite photo from the batch and they write a short description in their own words.